Posts by Steven Chervenick
Patients with Mesothelioma Don’t Always Have Access to the Best Care
Unfortunately, there is a lack of equality when it comes to treating mesothelioma patients because access to care can be very inconsistent. Patients might not have access to a high-volume academic hospital that treats mesothelioma patients, so they are not receiving the proper care that some people might receive. Patients with mesothelioma from different areas…
Read MoreA Cancer Fighting Gel Can Help Mesothelioma Patients
A cancer fighting gel that is applied directly to tumors could help mesothelioma patients. Researchers in Maryland tested the treatment on animals with mesothelioma tumors. The tumors responded even after one application. The gel could be used alone or could be used while doctors are performing surgery on mesothelioma. It could change the future of…
Read MoreMRIs vs CT Scans for Imaging Mesothelioma
MRI scans could be better than CT scans for diagnosing and monitoring disease response in pleural mesothelioma patients. An Italian study is looking at the two imaging techniques to compare the effectiveness of each one and is publishing results in the online medical journal Cancers. Computed tomography scans (CT) are currently the most popular way…
Read MoreRamucirumab and Gemcitabine are Showing Promising Results as a Second Line Treatment for Pleural Mesothelioma
Combining the drug ramucirumab with the chemotherapy drug gemcitabine is showing to be a successful second line treatment for pleural mesothelioma. Ramucirumab is a type of immunotherapy drug called a monoclonal antibody, which targets and restricts proteins that stimulate blood vessel growth in tumors. The Lancet Oncology published the results of the Italian study involving…
Read MoreA Study of Immunotherapy Drugs Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in Patients w/Resectable Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma
Primary Outcome Measures Major Pathologic (Disease) Response of Tumor to Nivolumab Combined with Ipilimumab Before Surgery [ Time Frame: 24 months ] The response of participant’s tumor to treatment with nivolumab and ipilimumab before surgery by analyzing tissue samples collected from participant during surgery for the presence of cancerous tumour cells. Major pathologic response will be defined as tissue…
Read MoreMesothelioma Patient Health Improves a Year After Surgery
It could take time for mesothelioma patients to have better lung function after pleural mesothelioma surgery since some patients have better lung function a year after surgery compared to the days and weeks after the operation. Researchers in Japan published their findings in Integrative Cancer Therapies. There were 24 male patients with pleural mesothelioma tested…
Read MoreChemotherapy With or Without Immunotherapy for Peritoneal Mesothelioma
Primary Outcome Measures Response rate [ Time Frame: Up to 4 years after study activation ] Will be compared between arms. Secondary Outcome Measures Major pathologic response rate [ Time Frame: Up to 3 years ] The proportion of patients with a pathologic response will be calculated and compared between arms and 95% confidence intervals reported. The chi-square test will be used to…
Read MoreTremelimumab and Durvalumab are a Good Second Line Treatment for Mesothelioma
Two immunotherapy drugs, tremelimumab and durvalumab, are showing to be a successful second line treatment for pleural mesothelioma when combined. This could mean that more treatments will be approved for the treatment of mesothelioma. The results of this phase II clinical trial were published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine from the Department of Oncology at…
Read MoreAtezolizumab Versus Placebo for the Adjuvant Treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (Atezomeso) (AtezoMeso)
Primary Outcome Measures To evaluate the efficacy of atezolizumab in patients with MPM in terms of DFS [ Time Frame: 12 weeks ] DFS, defined as the time from initiation of study treatment to first recurrence of disease or death for any cause, whichever occurs first. Secondary Outcome Measures To evaluate the safety of atezolizumab in patients with MPM…
Read MoreHITHOC After Pleurectomy and Decortication Surgery Can Improve Survival
There are some good results coming from a German study looking at Pleurectomy and Decortication surgery (P/D) being combined with HITHOC. Pleurectomy surgery is surgery that removes mesothelioma tumors but leaves the lung intact while HITHOC is a method of adding heated chemotherapy to the pleural area, sparing the rest of the body. When used…
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